Notes & Theories + Science and nature | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog+books/scienceandnature
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Why the science manuscript must also have literary merithttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/mar/11/why-the-science-manuscript-must-also-have-literary-merit
<p>Quoting poetry in a science paper does not add to its research, but as the Wellcome Trust book prize reveals, our dry format benefits from well-written ways to gain wider readership<br></p><p>The manuscript is the currency of science. It is the point of conclusion, the quantitative, accepted measure of creative output, and the primary source of scientific knowledge. It is the initial package in which scientific knowledge is first presented to the world. It is the researcher’s darling, their pay dirt, and their greatest frustration. </p><p> Five months ago I had written my latest manuscript with my PhD supervisor. Although my thesis had offered me the glorious leg room of 60,000 words to somehow develop my tangential thoughts, I soon found myself taking on the unasked-for role of the ruthless editor, highlighting the most unambiguous aspects of my writing, but accepting the price this came with – I was exorcising the joy of discovery, and the individuality, from my work. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/mar/11/why-the-science-manuscript-must-also-have-literary-merit">Continue reading...</a>ScienceBiologyScienceEducationScience and natureBooksResearchWed, 11 Mar 2015 12:26:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2015/mar/11/why-the-science-manuscript-must-also-have-literary-meritPhotograph: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty ImagesNick Crumpton2015-03-11T12:26:14ZTalking to the voices in our heads | Sam Wilkinson and Felicity Deamerhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/26/talking-to-the-voices-in-our-heads
<p>A promising approach to treating people who hear voices, also known as ‘auditory hallucinations’, is to get the patient or therapist to interact with the speaker </p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/sep/09/accents-narrators-and-total-silence-how-you-hear-voices-when-you-read">Accents, narrators and total silence: how you hear voices when you read</a></li><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/inner-voices">Read more from the Inner Voices series</a></li></ul><p>Somebody hears a voice, but nobody is speaking. It seems reasonable to assume that there is something going on in the head of this person that is similar to what is going on in the head of somebody actually hearing someone speak. The challenge is to explain why this is happening in the absence of a speaker.<br></p><p><a href="http://community.dur.ac.uk/c.p.fernyhough/papers/J&amp;FC&amp;C.pdf">One popular strategy</a> is to explain it in terms of someone’s ordinary “inner speech” somehow becoming “loud”. This will explain why somebody has an auditory, and specifically verbal, experience in the absence of sound waves hitting their eardrum. However, it does not explain why so many cases of voice hearing are perceived to come from another speaker.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/26/talking-to-the-voices-in-our-heads">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyEdinburgh international book festival 2014Edinburgh international book festivalScience and natureBooksMedical researchHealthSocietyTue, 26 Aug 2014 06:00:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/26/talking-to-the-voices-in-our-headsPhotograph: /Rex FeaturesA man having a consultation with a female doctor. Photograph: Rex FeaturesPhotograph: /Rex FeaturesA man having a consultation with a female doctor. Photograph: Rex FeaturesSam Wilkinson and Felicity Deamer2014-08-26T06:00:11ZTalking to ourselves: the science of the little voice in your head | Peter Moseleyhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/21/science-little-voice-head-hearing-voices-inner-speech
<p>If we want to understand what’s happening in the brain when people ‘hear voices’, we first need to understand what happens during ordinary inner speech</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/sep/09/accents-narrators-and-total-silence-how-you-hear-voices-when-you-read">Accents, narrators and total silence: how you hear voices when you read</a></li><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/inner-voices">Read more from the Inner Voices series</a></li></ul><p>Most of us will be familiar with the experience of silently talking to ourselves in our head. Perhaps you’re at the supermarket and realise that you’ve forgotten to pick up something you needed. “Milk!” you might say to yourself. Or maybe you’ve got an important meeting with your boss later in the day, and you’re simulating – silently in your head – how you think the conversation might go, possibly hearing both your own voice and your boss’s voice responding.</p><p>This is the phenomenon that psychologists call “inner speech”, and they’ve been trying to study it pretty much since the dawn of psychology as a scientific discipline. In the 1930s, the Russian psychologist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky">Lev Vygotsky</a> argued that inner speech developed through the internalisation of “external”, out-loud speech. If this is true, does inner speech use the same mechanisms in the brain as when we speak out loud?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/21/science-little-voice-head-hearing-voices-inner-speech">Continue reading...</a>NeurosciencePsychologyMental healthSocietyMedical researchScienceScience and natureEdinburgh international book festival 2014Edinburgh international book festivalBooksThu, 21 Aug 2014 06:00:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/21/science-little-voice-head-hearing-voices-inner-speechPhotograph: Johner Images/AlamyWhat's the difference between inner speech and hearing voices? Photograph: Johner Images/AlamyPhotograph: Johner Images/AlamyWhat's the difference between inner speech and hearing voices? Photograph: Johner Images/AlamyPeter Moseley2014-08-21T06:00:07ZDo you hear voices? You are not alone | Ben Alderson-Dayhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/13/hear-voices-auditory-verbal-hallucinations
<p>Auditory verbal hallucinations or ‘hearing voices’ is not restricted to people who have a form of psychosis. For many, the voices provide support and guidance or have a spiritual aspect</p><ul><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/sep/09/accents-narrators-and-total-silence-how-you-hear-voices-when-you-read">Accents, narrators and total silence: how you hear voices when you read</a></li><li><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/inner-voices">Read more from the Inner Voices series</a></li></ul><p>Hearing voices is an experience that is very distressing for many people. Voices – or “auditory verbal hallucinations” – are one of the most common features of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. But for a small minority of people, voice-hearing is a regular part of their lives, an everyday experience that isn’t associated with being unwell. It is only in the past 10 years that we have begun to understand what might be going on in “non-clinical” voice-hearing.<br></p><p>Most of what we know comes from <a href="http://schizophreniabulletin.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/3/633.long">a large study</a> conducted by Iris Sommer and colleagues at UMC Utrecht in the Netherlands. In 2006 they launched a nationwide attempt to find people who had heard voices before but didn’t have any sort of psychiatric diagnosis. From an initial response of over 4,000 people, they eventually identified a sample of 103 who heard voices at least once a month, but didn’t have psychosis. Their voice-hearing was also not caused by misuse of drugs or alcohol.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/13/hear-voices-auditory-verbal-hallucinations">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyEdinburgh international book festivalEdinburgh festival 2014ScienceScience and natureMedical researchEdinburgh festivalFestivalsWed, 13 Aug 2014 12:36:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/aug/13/hear-voices-auditory-verbal-hallucinationsPhotograph: Sarah Lee/GuardianA human ear. Photograph: Sarah LeePhotograph: Sarah Lee/GuardianA human ear. Photograph: Sarah LeeBen Alderson-Day2014-08-13T12:36:57ZThe scandal of common mental illnesses left untreated | Daniel and Jason Freemanhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/jul/01/mental-illnesses-untreated-thrive-psychological-therapies
<p>Would we tolerate a situation in which the majority of those suffering from diabetes, heart disease, or arthritis were left to fend for themselves, or asked to make do with inferior therapies?<br></p><p>Imagine you are the campaigns manager of a political party. You are aware of a public health crisis that, at any one time, affects a third of the population, reduces life expectancy as drastically as smoking, is more disabling than angina, asthma, or diabetes, and reduces GDP by around 4% each year. You know this crisis can be substantially – and cheaply – alleviated. Wouldn’t you make the issue a central theme in your election campaign?<br></p><p>Not in the UK, it seems. The crisis in question is one of mental health, yet what our politicians propose to do about it remains unclear. If they’re in need of help, they could always start with a careful reading of a new book by the economist <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/researchandexpertise/experts/profile.aspx?KeyValue=r.layard%40lse.ac.uk">Richard Layard</a> and clinical psychologist <a href="http://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/team/principal-investigators/david-clark">David Clark</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/jul/01/mental-illnesses-untreated-thrive-psychological-therapies">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyScienceMental healthSocietyHealthScience and natureTue, 01 Jul 2014 06:00:14 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/jul/01/mental-illnesses-untreated-thrive-psychological-therapiesPhotograph: AlamyMost mental illnesses go untreated. Photograph: matty/AlamyPhotograph: AlamyMost mental illnesses go untreated. Photograph: matty/AlamyDaniel Freeman and Jason Freeman2014-07-01T06:00:14ZHas your MP read The Geek Manifesto? | Mark Lorchhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/jun/18/mp-geek-manifesto
A year has passed since every MP and Welsh assembly member was sent a book extolling evidence-based policymaking<p>Last June hundreds of geeks from around the UK set their MPs and Welsh Assembly Members (AMs) some homework for the summer holidays. Our representatives each received a copy of Mark Henderson's <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780552165433" title="">The Geek Manifesto: Why Science Matters</a>, some from their constituents and others directly from the publisher, <a href="http://www.booksattransworld.co.uk/" title="">Transworld books</a>.</p><p>The geeks (me included) heard Henderson's rallying cry, that the flagrant disregard for evidence in government policy decisions should no longer be tolerated. The hope was that if politicians read the catalogue of evidence abuse and Henderson's suggestions for countering it, a more robust and rational decision-making process might emerge.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/jun/18/mp-geek-manifesto">Continue reading...</a>Science policyScience and scepticismSciencePoliticsScience and natureTue, 18 Jun 2013 06:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/jun/18/mp-geek-manifestoPhotograph: PAJeremy Hunt was given the job of health secretary just months after receiving a copy of the Geek Manifesto. He continues to advocate homeopathy. Photograph: PAPhotograph: PAJeremy Hunt was given the job of health secretary just months after receiving a copy of the Geek Manifesto. He continues to advocate homeopathy. Photograph: PAMark Lorch2013-06-18T06:00:00ZHow to Think Like Sherlock Holmes – Q&Ahttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/06/mastermind-think-like-sherlock-holmes
<strong>Maria Konnikova</strong>, author of Mastermind, answered readers' questions about harnessing the brain's innate powers of 'deduction'<p>According to <a href="http://www.mariakonnikova.com/">Maria Konnikova</a>, Sherlock Holmes's phenomenal memory and capacity for reasoning are within the grasp of ordinary, non-fictional humans like ourselves. </p><p>Re-reading Arthur Conan-Doyle's stories about the 19th century detective, she was struck by the thought that Holmes embodies many of the discoveries of 21st century neuroscience and psychology about how the brain works.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/06/mastermind-think-like-sherlock-holmes">Continue reading...</a>NeurosciencePsychologyMemoryScience and natureArthur Conan DoyleFictionBooksHealth & wellbeingLife and styleWed, 06 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2013/feb/06/mastermind-think-like-sherlock-holmesPhotograph: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesHolmes (Basil Rathbone) tackles a three-pipe problem in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesHolmes (Basil Rathbone) tackles a three-pipe problem in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939). Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesGuardian Staff2013-02-06T07:00:00ZOliver Sacks shares his hallucinations | Kerri Smithhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/oct/30/oliver-sacks-shares-hallucinations
Were it not for his own drug-induced hallucinations, the writer says he might not take his patients' experiences seriously<p>It is fitting for the author of a new book about hallucinations to have had so many himself. "A spider on the wall said hello to me," recalls neurologist <a href="http://www.oliversacks.com/" title="">Oliver Sacks</a>. "And for some reason it didn't seem too surprising that a spider should say hello. We had a conversation about analytic philosophy, a rather technical conversation."</p><p>Sacks is describing his experience with a drug called artane in the 1960s. One Sunday morning when he was working as a neurology resident in California, he took a large dose of the drug, which is sometimes used to treat Parkinson's disease and has a similar chemistry to the toxin from the deadly nightshade plant. He hallucinated two close friends arriving, chatted to them while taking their breakfast orders – and then found they were nowhere to be seen. Then the spider started talking. "I thought I'd better take myself in hand," says Sacks in an interview with the Nature podcast.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/oct/30/oliver-sacks-shares-hallucinations">Continue reading...</a>Oliver SacksNeuroscienceDrugsPsychologyScienceScience and natureMental healthHealthSocietyTue, 30 Oct 2012 12:30:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2012/oct/30/oliver-sacks-shares-hallucinationsPhotograph: Alamy'It didn't seem too surprising that a spider should say hello,' says Sacks, describing a hallucination he experienced in the 1960s. Photograph: AlamyPhotograph: Alamy'It didn't seem too surprising that a spider should say hello,' says Sacks, describing a hallucination he experienced in the 1960s. Photograph: AlamyKerri Smith2012-10-30T12:30:02ZDeceit and Self-Deception by Robert Trivers – reviewhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/oct/07/deceit-self-deception-robert-trivers
Biologist Robert Trivers has written a fascinating book about the survival value of self-deception<p>Lying is second nature to us and under the influence of self-delusion we'll hang ourselves if given enough rope. <a href="http://anthro.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=102&amp;Itemid=136" title="">Robert Trivers</a> is one of the few scientists able to take command of an evolutionary perspective on subterfuge, and in his new book <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/data/book/unclassified/9780713998269/deceit-and-self-deception-fooling-yourself-the-better-to-fool-others" title="">Deceit and Self-Deception: Fooling Yourself the Better to Fool Others</a>, he does exactly that.</p><p>His overarching premise is that if we can only see our own point of view, we can authentically argue our case because our deceits blind us to the truth. Ignorance can be bliss, until you are outwitted by a perspective you don't share.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/oct/07/deceit-self-deception-robert-trivers">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyEvolutionBiologyScienceScience and natureFri, 07 Oct 2011 17:56:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/oct/07/deceit-self-deception-robert-triversPhotograph: Bettmann/CORBISIf you can fool yourself, you'll be better at fooling others. Photograph: Bettmann/CorbisPhotograph: Bettmann/CORBISIf you can fool yourself, you'll be better at fooling others. Photograph: Bettmann/CorbisCarole Jahme2011-10-07T17:56:16ZWhy are so few popular science books written by women? | Jo Marchanthttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/oct/04/popular-science-books-women
There are plenty of women writing about science, but their names rarely make it onto bookshelves or into the shortlist of the Royal Society's science book prize<p>I couldn't help being a bit disappointed by the shortlist, announced last week, for the <a href="http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/shortlist-2011/" title="">2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books</a>. From Alex Bellos's mathematical adventures to Sam Kean's poetic tour of the chemical elements, this is an inspiring collection of well-deserving books. But, yet again, all the authors are men.</p><p>This made me wonder how many women have been shortlisted for this prestigious prize since it was established in 1988. A quick glance at the society's website reveals that of <a href="http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/all-shortlisted/" title="">144 shortlisted books</a> – six each year over 24 years – just nine were by women, with two others that had a woman as second author, including a husband-wife team. Out of these female authors, only one has won (the husband-wife team).</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/oct/04/popular-science-books-women">Continue reading...</a>Royal Society prizes for science booksScience prizesScienceScience and natureBooksTue, 04 Oct 2011 13:42:53 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/oct/04/popular-science-books-womenPhotograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianRebecca Skloot's hugely successful The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks failed to make it onto the Royal Society's longlist last year. Photograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianPhotograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianRebecca Skloot's hugely successful The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks failed to make it onto the Royal Society's longlist last year. Photograph: Linda Nylind/GuardianJo Marchant2011-10-04T13:42:53ZScience Weekly podcast: Middle-aged brains and information overloadhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2011/apr/18/science-weekly-podcast-barbara-strauch
New York Times science editor <strong>Barbara Strauch</strong> describes the surprising abilities of a middle-aged mind; <strong>James Gleick</strong> on information overload; plus, the latest in our series of unanswerable questions<p><strong>Barbara Strauch</strong>, science editor at The New York Times, reveals new research suggesting our brains are at their smartest in middle age. In her new book <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780241953075">The Grown Up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-aged Mind</a>, she also gives some handy tips and tricks to keep our minds healthier for longer. </p><p><strong>Rebecca Hill</strong> heads to the <a href="http://royalsociety.org/Events-Diary/">Royal Society in London</a> to meet <strong>James Gleick</strong>. He was speaking at an event to promote his new work <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9780007225736">The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood</a>. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2011/apr/18/science-weekly-podcast-barbara-strauch">Continue reading...</a>ScienceTechnologyNeuroscienceNew York TimesAgeingScience and natureComputingHealth & wellbeingHealthSun, 17 Apr 2011 23:01:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2011/apr/18/science-weekly-podcast-barbara-strauchPhotograph: GettyBrain scanPhotograph: GettyBrain scanProduced and presented by Andy Duckworth2011-04-17T23:01:00ZZero Degrees of Empathy by Simon Baron-Cohen – review | Carole Jahmehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/apr/14/zero-degrees-empathy-baron-cohen
<strong>Carole Jahme</strong> reviews two new books about the science of empathy, Zero Degrees of Empathy by Simon Baron-Cohen, and Pathological Altruism edited by Barbara Oakley et al<p>Does altruism rewarded by altruism – as seen in the TV series <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-secret-millionaire" title="The Secret Millionaire, Channel 4">The Secret Millionaire</a> ("Millionaire benefactors ... go undercover in deprived areas to find out who needs their help") – ever move you to tears? Would your favourite football team winning the premier league reduce you to a sobbing wreck? Perhaps there are few things that would ever reduce you to tears? </p><p>Where you sit on the empathy spectrum will have an effect over the sorts of things that make you cry. More significantly, how much or how little empathic understanding you possess will shape the course of your life.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/apr/14/zero-degrees-empathy-baron-cohen">Continue reading...</a>PsychologyNeuroscienceScienceAutismSocietyScience and natureBooksThu, 14 Apr 2011 13:14:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2011/apr/14/zero-degrees-empathy-baron-cohenPhotograph: CorbisThe Kray twins. Baron-Cohen's new empathy scale categorises psychopathic personalities as 'zero negative'. Photograph: CorbisPhotograph: CorbisThe Kray twins. Baron-Cohen's new empathy scale categorises psychopathic personalities as 'zero negative'. Photograph: CorbisCarole Jahme2011-04-14T13:14:00ZScience Weekly podcast: Getting high and the threat of climate warhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/nov/15/science-weekly-podcast-high-society-drugs-climate-wars
Mind-altering drugs; War as a consequence of climate change; Why some areas of science are too difficult to explain through sound alone; plus, next month's Guardian science book club<p>A perfect storm of dwindling resources, population shifts, epidemics, drought, rising sea levels and plummeting agricultural yields is tackled head-on by <strong>Gwynne Dyer</strong> in his new book <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781851687428">Climate Wars</a>. Dyer came into the studio to talk about the geopolitics of climate change.</p><p>Also in the studio is former Guardian science editor <strong>Tim Radford</strong> to introduce December's Science Book Club choice: My Life on Mars: The Beagle 2 Diaries by Colin Pillinger, about the doomed British contribution to the <a href="http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars_Express/index.html">Mars Express</a> mission. As <a href="http://www.beagle2.com/science/sightandsound.htm">Alex James of Blur</a> put it: "There are few scientists bold enough to step into the ring with those two impostors, triumph and disaster."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/nov/15/science-weekly-podcast-high-society-drugs-climate-wars">Continue reading...</a>ScienceEnvironmentClimate changeClimate changeClimate change scepticismTechnologyMarsSpaceScience and natureMon, 15 Nov 2010 00:01:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/nov/15/science-weekly-podcast-high-society-drugs-climate-warsPhotograph: Mykel Nicolaou/RexCannabis leaf. Photograph: Mykel Nicolaou / Rex FeaturesPhotograph: Mykel Nicolaou/RexCannabis leaf. Photograph: Mykel Nicolaou / Rex FeaturesPresented by Alok Jha and produced by Andy Duckworth2010-11-15T00:01:00ZScience Weekly podcast: Maggie Philbin on Tomorrow's World; plus, James Randi and PZ Myershttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/oct/25/science-weekly-podcast-maggie-philbin-james-randi-tomorrows-world
Maggie Philbin talks about judging this year's Royal Society Prize for Science Books - and her time presenting Tomorrow's World. We speak to the amazing James Randi and PZ Myers at TAM London. Plus, geeks reveal their heroes<p>A packed show this week with a science legend live in the studio. </p><p>Former <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/tomorrowsworld/">Tomorrow's World</a> presenter <strong>Maggie Philbin</strong> explains why the judges plumped for Nick Lane's book about <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/19/life-ascending-evolution-nick-lane">evolution's greatest inventions</a> to win this year's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/oct/21/nick-lane-royal-society-life-ascending">Royal Society Prize for Science Books</a>. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/oct/25/science-weekly-podcast-maggie-philbin-james-randi-tomorrows-world">Continue reading...</a>ScienceRoyal Society prizes for science booksJonathan RossTV newsMediaReligionAtheismScience and natureEvolutionBiologySun, 24 Oct 2010 23:01:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/oct/25/science-weekly-podcast-maggie-philbin-james-randi-tomorrows-worldPhotograph: Public domainPhotograph: Public domainPresented by Nell Boase and produced by Andy Duckworth2010-10-24T23:01:00ZScience Weekly podcast: Scientific feuds; Tevatron's stay of execution; plus Stephen Hawking dismisses God - againhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/sep/06/science-weekly-podcast-feuds-joel-levy-stephen-hawking-god
Are fierce rivalries good for scientific research? Plus, we go behind the scaffolding as a UK science museum gets a makeover; we discuss the Nobel prize committee's Higgs dilemma; 'embedded' carbon emissions; and why Stephen Hawking's non-belief in God is making headlines – again<p>What happens when fierce scientific rivals go head to head? <strong>Joel Levy</strong> discusses some of history's most epic battles to discredit the work of colleagues. Do these often petty quarrels help or hinder the progress of science?</p><p>Joel's book <a href="http://www.guardianbookshop.co.uk/BerteShopWeb/viewProduct.do?ISBN=9781847735140">Scientific Feuds: From Galileo to the Human Genome Project</a> is out now. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/sep/06/science-weekly-podcast-feuds-joel-levy-stephen-hawking-god">Continue reading...</a>ScienceMuseumsMuseumsReligionStephen HawkingCernClimate changeClimate change scepticismScience and natureHuman Genome ProjectHiggs bosonSun, 05 Sep 2010 23:01:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2010/sep/06/science-weekly-podcast-feuds-joel-levy-stephen-hawking-godPhotograph: Phil Noble/ReutersPhotograph: Phil Noble/ReutersPresented by Nell Boase and produced by Andy Duckworth2010-09-05T23:01:00ZRoyal Society announces science book prize shortlisthttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jun/25/royal-society-science-book-prize
The shortlist is a smorgasbord of popular science writing offering a taste of evolutionary biology, statistics, archaeology, olfaction, good science and bad science<p>Today the Royal Society announced <a href="http://royalsociety.org/booksnews.asp?id=8634">the shortlist for its science book prize</a>. It's a strong field of contenders for the £10,000 prize money. Regular readers of the Guardian and fans of our <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/series/science">Science Weekly podcast</a> will already be familiar with the finalists. One of the shortlisted books was recently picked over by our <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/series/science-book-club">Science Book Club</a>, one of the authors writes a popular weekly column for the Guardian, and two have been guests on the podcast.</p><p>Sir Tim Hunt, who chairs the <a href="http://royalsociety.org/bookspage.asp?id=8338">panel of judges</a>, said: "There's clearly a large audience for books that explain science clearly and gracefully, and no shortage of authors. Choosing a final list of six books from the big boxes of books that arrived on our doorsteps – over 120 books were submitted – was a challenging pleasure."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jun/25/royal-society-science-book-prize">Continue reading...</a>ScienceBooksScience and natureEvolutionBiologyChemistryArchaeologyMathematicsZoologyAwards and prizesCultureRoyal Society prizes for science booksRoyal Society prizes for science books 2009Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:06:05 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/jun/25/royal-society-science-book-prizePhotograph: Parque/Zefa/CorbisThe shortlist will provide some great holiday reading before the winner is announced on 15 September. Photograph: Parque/Zefa/CorbisPhotograph: Parque/Zefa/CorbisThe shortlist will provide some great holiday reading before the winner is announced on 15 September. Photograph: Parque/Zefa/CorbisJames Kingsland2009-06-25T13:06:05ZStar in a film celebrating the genius of Charles Darwinhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/apr/15/darwin-aloud-video-competition-origin-species
Take a video camera and a copy of On the Origin of Species to a famous landmark or scene of spectacular natural beauty, clear your throat and start reading out loud ...<p>Just when you thought the feeding frenzy of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/charles-darwin">Charles Darwin anniversary celebrations</a> was calming down, someone throws another tasty morsel into the water. But unlike the multitude of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/darwin/">TV and radio documentaries</a>, books and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2009/feb/09/charles-darwin?picture=342987601">exhibitions</a> honouring the bearded one (many of them excellent), this item is all about popular participation. </p><p>A project called <a href="http://www.cfiwest.org/darwinaloud/index.html">Darwin Aloud</a> is calling on people around the world to send in videos of themselves reading in their native tongue from the final chapter of On the Origin of Species. The twist is that the backdrop should be a famous landmark, spectacular scenery or a site of scientific importance. </p><p>There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/apr/15/darwin-aloud-video-competition-origin-species">Continue reading...</a>ScienceCharles DarwinEvolutionBooksScience and natureThu, 16 Apr 2009 12:01:40 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2009/apr/15/darwin-aloud-video-competition-origin-speciesPhotograph: Robyn Beck/AFPThe Grand Canyon – what better backdrop for the aeons of geological and evolutionary history encapsulated in On the Origin of Species?Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFPThe Grand Canyon – what better backdrop for the aeons of geological and evolutionary history encapsulated in On the Origin of Species?James Kingsland2009-04-16T12:01:40ZScience Weekly podcast: Christopher Potter's history of the universehttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2009/apr/13/science-weekly-podcast-chris-potter-history-universe
Christopher Potter tells us what he's learned from editing some of the most popular science books of all time, and the experience of writing his own science book You Are Here. Plus, the words that have crossed from science fiction to science, and alien seed<p>Our guest this week is Christopher Potter. A former mathematician, he went on to commission and edit some of the most popular science books of the past few decades, including Dava Sobel's Longitude and Fermat's Last Theorem by our own columnist <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/simon-singh">Simon Singh</a>. He has also worked on fiction by celebrated novelists Annie Proulx and Carol Shields. </p><p>His latest book – this one penned by himself – is called <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/13/christopher-potter-you-are-here">You Are Here – A Portable History of The Universe</a>. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/alokjha">Alok Jha</a> asks him why he decided to embark on this cosmically ambitious writing project.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2009/apr/13/science-weekly-podcast-chris-potter-history-universe">Continue reading...</a>AstronomySpaceClimate changeScienceScience and naturePublishingBooksClimate changeGreen politicsPoliticsEnvironmentAlien lifeSun, 12 Apr 2009 23:05:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/audio/2009/apr/13/science-weekly-podcast-chris-potter-history-universePhotograph: Martin Argles/GuardianAuthor and former publisher Christopher Potter at his home in east London. Photograph: Martin Argles/GuardianPhotograph: Martin Argles/GuardianAuthor and former publisher Christopher Potter at his home in east London. Photograph: Martin Argles/GuardianAlok Jha, green technology correspondent2009-04-12T23:05:00ZAcademics spat over intelligent designhttps://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/sep/29/newhumanist
AC Grayling pans fellow academic's book as "300 pages of wasted trees"<p>If you think the celebrity sniping in Heat magazine is bitchy, it has nothing on a good old academic slanging match. The pages of <a href="http://newhumanist.org.uk/">New Humanist magazine</a> this month are filled with one of the best intellectual cat-fights I've seen in ages. </p><p>It starts with the philosopher Prof AC Grayling's <a href="http://newhumanist.org.uk/1856">less than congratulatory review</a> of sociologist Prof Steve Fuller's book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dissent-Over-Descent-Evolutions-Intelligent/dp/1840468041">Dissent over Descent</a> or "nearly 300 pages of wasted forest" as Grayling puts it. </p><p>It starts from a fixed conclusion, and looks for evidence to support it. Does it specify what would refute the fixed belief in a designing intelligence that is its starting point? Does it tell us what would count as a test of what it has already accepted in advance, before the search for allegedly supportive evidence begins? It does not. </p><p>Well, let's see: it removed the risk of scientists being burned at the stake for controverting the divinely revealed truth that "the lord hath laid the foundations of the earth so that it shall not be moved for ever" (Psalm 104)...It removed the necessity of having to distort observations, facts, experimental results and observations to fit an antecedent doctrine as far from what observation and experiment revealed as one could possibly get. </p><p>In light of this modus operandi, I conclude that either Grayling simply did not "read" the book as ordinarily understood, or he was afraid to admit he was not up to the job of reviewing it, and so he figured he could bluff his way by saying philosophy-looking things that effectively preached to the converted (ie "new humanists").</p><p>To be sure, the design inference has been strongly contested, but the dispute ranges over who bears the greater burden of proof: defenders of design or chance. Which general form of explanation is simpler? Intuitions have varied across history, but what comes through clearly in these debates is that some combination of chance and necessity of the sort associated with Neo-Darwinism are today presumed to be more plausible than Intelligent Design until shown otherwise. This distribution of the burden of proof reflects little more than a bias in favour of the scientific orthodoxy, whose relationship to the beliefs of rank-and-file trained scientists we simply do not know. </p><p><br>"Steve Fuller complains, as do all authors whose books are panned, that I did not read his book properly (or at all). Alas, I did." </p><p>Look at nature - in all its beauty, ugliness, sweetness, brutality, charm, indifference and immense variety - and the idea that it manifests conscious design or purpose, still less intelligent design, is seen for what it is: a little driblet of childish ignorance; a mark of mankind's infancy. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/sep/29/newhumanist">Continue reading...</a>EvolutionBooksScience and natureControversiesCultureScienceBiologyTue, 30 Sep 2008 10:16:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/sep/29/newhumanistPhotograph: CorbisPhotograph: CorbisJames Randerson2008-09-30T10:16:54ZScience Weekly for May 26: Trick or Treatment?https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/may/26/scienceweeklyformay26tric
Alok Jha and James Randerson are joined by Simon Singh to discuss his new book, Trick or Treatment: Alternative Medicine on Trial. Plus, who will win the world's most prestigious science book prize?<p>This week,<strong> Alok Jha</strong> is joined by science writer <strong>Simon Singh</strong>, who has just co-authored a <a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/scienceandnature/0,,2277821,00.html">new book</a> with <strong>Edzard Ernst</strong> - the world's first professor of complementary medicine - putting homeopathy, placebos and quackery in the dock. Have a listen to our full, half-hour conversation with Simon as this week's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2008/may/26/science.extra.simon.singh">Science Extra</a>.</p><p>Also in the show, the author <strong>Ffion Hague</strong> - one of the judges for the <a href="http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2279964,00.html">Royal Society science book prize</a> - reveals the key to good science communication. Our very own <strong>James Randerson </strong>tells us why he thinks <strong>Craig Venter</strong> is a shoo-in for the award - but let us know what <em>you</em> think. You might also want to have a listen to some of our interviews with the likes of Venter (there are three of them: here's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2007/oct/08/science845">part one</a>; this is <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2007/oct/15/science848">part two</a>; and this, logically enough, is the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2007/oct/22/science849">third </a>part), as well as <a href="http://http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2007/jun/04/science813">Steve Jones</a> on his prize-nominated book <em>Coral</em>. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/24/activists.conservation">Here's</a> another nominee Mark Lynas' latest contribution to The Guardian.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/may/26/scienceweeklyformay26tric">Continue reading...</a>Science and natureMedical researchScienceSimon SinghAlternative medicineSun, 25 May 2008 23:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2008/may/26/scienceweeklyformay26tricBen Green2008-05-25T23:00:00Z